Another solid write-up from Bob Gretz (hell must have frozen over for me to type that):

http://www.bobgretz.com/chiefs-footb...lark-hunt.html

Column: Defining Moment Ahead For Clark Hunt

I would not begin to even think that I could read the mind of Clark Hunt and what his plans are for the Hunt Family football team.

Chiefs Nation has their fingers, toes, even eyes crossed that New Year’s Eve 2012 will be the moment when the madness and losing of the Pioli Era will end and a new future will be laid out for the football team.

Two months ago, my personal opinion was that Hunt didn’t have the guts to admit his mistake and fire Pioli. Now, after everything that happened with his franchise over the last four months, I’m not sure Hunt has the guts not to make a big change. How could he possibly ignore what’s gone down with the Chiefs and why they are the NFL’s worst team in 2012?

Well, let me assure you he can, and he might. I don’t think it’s a lead-pipe cinch that the hurricane of change roils through the franchise. The fans and media think that Hunt has to be embarrassed and angry with the performance of his team on the field under Pioli’s direction. They are now 23-42 after losing Sunday in Denver, some 19 games under .500 and far removed from being a championship contender.

I do believe Hunt wants a winning team. What I don’t know, and we all don’t know, is just how important winning is on his radar screen. There may be other areas and avenues of the organization that rank higher on his list of goals. That remains a mystery.

Or, at least it will be in the shadows until he explains what his immediate plans are for the organization. If he keeps Pioli, it will provide everyone with an emphatic answer that winning is not the most important item on his agenda.

A 2-14 season cries out for some sort of reply from ownership. Firing/retiring Romeo Crennel is not going to be a big enough change. There’s no question the Chiefs coaching staff was not a strong one and that doesn’t just fall at the feet of Crennel, not in an organization where Pioli has his finger in every pie and the willingness to overrule any notion that is not his.

For four years now, we have seen that this fish rots from the head down. Now, Clark Hunt will show us if he was the problem ahead of Pioli.

The immediate future of the team depends on what he decides. This is not just a move about changing the names in the office directory. This franchise must reconnect with its fans. There needs to be profound change in the way business is conducted by the Kansas City Chiefs Football Club, Inc.

A red and gold nation awaits a moment where Clark Hunt makes a decision that shows he understands and he has listened.

But, don’t be surprised if he says he does understand and has listened but is going to keep his general manager while sacrificing his head coach.

Anything is possible.

I thought this was a good enough article to copy it out of the SOC thread and into its own. Mega threads suck.

He kind of alludes to a good point. Up to this point, all of the ire has been pointed at Pioli. If Clark lets Pioli stick around, it's a clear indicator that winning isn't the most important goal he has. At that point, the fans' ire turns to Clark. That's potentially a huge turning point for this franchise.

I have been saying for the last couple of years Clark is THE PROBLEM so now he has a chance to prove me wrong. Hope he does.

Do more of that, please.

I see that thread I keep thinking it's just more organizing protests. I think "news" should be separate from it.

wonder if he has his finger on the pulse of the fanbase. he CAN'T be this obtuse, can he? clark, clark clark... don't do this to the franchise.

Good to see the KC media isn't going to allow Hunt a free pass if he decides to keep Pioli.

Yeah if he keeps Pioli, Clark and the Hunt family goes to public enemy #1 instead of their football guy. They had Steadman, King Carl, and douche Pioli before to take the heat. If he keeps him for the first time the fans will be turning on them.

Bob Dole's question then becomes: What goal has Pioli achieved?

Well, the rumor is that Pioli has made Clark a ton of money. But then, I would anticipate that next season's attendance would be worse than this one if Pioli is kept around, so that's not even something that will be a likely accomplishment in the future.

That's what I was saying in the 'do you come back to Arrowhead' thread/poll.

The "I'm out until Pioli is gone" option that's running away with the poll is just stupid. If Scott Pioli is retained, it's Clark Hunt that will have to go before I come back.

If Pioli returns, he's not the problem. At that point we have Bill Bidwell in charge. Or Mike Brown. Or William Clay Ford.

Clark Hunt will join that list of infamously horrid owners. And he won't join the list of meddlesome ones that want to win like Snyder or Jones or Davis. Those guys at least manage to win stuff here and there. No, he's going to join the list full of disinterested, cheap one who sucks the peniss that don't care about the team and want nothing more than to take your money and employ their buddies. Bidwell, Brown, Ford....Hunt.

And here's the good news, fellas - he's young. He's really really young.

He's going to outlive 1/2 of this board.

If he brings back Scott Pioli, this team is dead to me until Hunt is gone. I will not have a billionaire tell me to **** myself and then shake me by my feet for loose change.

I was thinking of not replying, but I can't.. It's spot-on. I personally think "Hunt" (not just this latest version) is the root of the problem.

I'm not convinced that the Hunts care about winning to any large extent. I think they're a money-first, second, third........ninty-nineth and one-hundredth, after that, a win is cool too. Now that losing is affecting their coin, THAT might force them to do something. I'm just not confident he knows what to do past take a stab in the dark or reply on the advice of Marty. Not bad advice, but in the end he won't be the author of any major part of his final opinion or decision.

I would take raising a trophy bearing my fathers name over making money trying to **** the fans. If you win you bring in way more fans. If you lose you suck the penis.

They make plenty off of revenue sharing... Add to it their other spending (or non-spending) tendencies, Hunt's profit-to-effort level is very high. His not living in KC speaks volumes, and this is only one source of income for him, so his priorities for the Chiefs might be have be askew while he was multi-tasking.

I don't know what living in kc has to do with anything. He is there quite a bit
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Perhaps not, but it'd be a nice thing to try for a while.

why?

It has everything to do with everything. Absentee owner can only be so much of a part of the community.

I made this point in a thread a few weeks ago and got shit on. Heh.

What does "the community" and being part of it have to do with any thing? Put a winner on the field. That will fix a lot.
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FYP

Chiefs fans are so far away from knowing what it is like having good ownership...it is like battered wives syndrome up in here.

My feeling is like the Glass family since they don't live here they don't get the pulse of the fans and the city along with being pretty much out of touch with what is going on inside their organization.

I feel like Tina and Clark Hunt is Ike Turner!

What see you talking about?

I could give a shit where he lives or if he EVER steps foot in kc if we are winning. I would bet everything 99 percent of fans fell the same way
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He is there quite a bit. I think he knows.
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Just win it fixes everything.

But you don't just go from being bad to good.

You have to run and build an organization that has a culture of winning. I don't think Hunt knows how to do that with the Chiefs. He is out of touch with the community and the fanbase. Doing business in this bubble.

You don't have any idea what you would feel like if we were winning or what those other fans feel like if we were winning.

Because winning to Chiefs fans is only a hypothetical. I think his absentee ownership is one reason for that. Not the biggest though.

I guess we will find out tomorrow. If he retains Pioli then he doesn't have a clue

community and fan base have absolutely nothing to do with a culture of winning.
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yes I know how I would feel if we were winning.

I wouldn't give a **** where Clark lives
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How old are you?

True.

Or he only cares about the money he makes.
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old enough to know that I wouldn't give a **** where Clark lives.

It just doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.


But I probably have seen how an owner of sports teams runs things when he doesn't live in the town the teams are in a little closer than you bud.
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Clark's brother and all of his wife's family lives in Kansas City. Dan Glass, David Glass's son, lives in KC. Lets not act like they aren't in the city at all. Shit in David Glass's case he lives right on the Missouri/Arkansas border. Would you be pissed if he lived in Wichita and owned the team? Or Columbia? Or at the Lake of the Ozarks? Because all of them are about the same distance away. Hunt in Dallas is farther for sure, but its not that bad.

You have to be of a certain age to have any idea what it is like for the Chiefs to be a winning franchise.

Last playoff win was '94. Championship was '69.

Winning is only a hypothetical. An abstract to most of us.

And it's not going to change my mind.

I can tell you with 100 percent certainty
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In this thread.

Jasonsauto imagines what he would feel like in a hypothetical situation where the Chiefs are winners. :D

I want my owners to live in the city where the team resides. That is not asking too much.

I would probably make an exception for someone like Mark Cuban because I at least know that he wants to win. I don't get that sense for the Glass's and Hunt's.

Why be a part of a community when you can just suck cash out of them and live it up somewhere else. Not giving a shit about winning.

You live in Clinton. If you had a billion dollars and bought the team, would you move to Kansas City or stay where you are now.

Clark Hunt announces he's going to sell the team and Mark Cuban is the buyer....Kansas City drinks the kool-aid Jim Jones style, count it.

Actually jasonsauto TELLS you he would not give a **** where the owner lives if the chiefs were winners.

Jasonsauto doesn't give a **** where the owner lives right now either.

All owners own other businesses that take substantial time away from their teams.

Hell Stan kroenke owns teams in at least three states.
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lol.
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You won't have any idea how it would feel if the Chiefs were winners with Clark at the helm.

Yep that sounds like the Hunt family.

Move to nice condo on the Plaza or a big house up North

Again being a part of the community has absolutely nothing to do with winning.

You seem to be trying to equate the two
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You must just be ****ing stupid dude.

My feelings about where he lives wouldn't change. I know that for a fact
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Companies start at the top. The culture is built and trickles down.

The organization is in KC but the man is in Dallas.

We have been abject failures. It would be nice if someone was here every day working on building an organization that wants to win.

But here were are Jason. You and me. Talking about a hypothetical where we are fans of a winning football team. Maybe some day it will be reality. Probably not.

and still I would not ****ing care where he lives.that's the point. You must just like to spew bullshit.

That was a post full of nothing
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You are saying you won't care when we win...I am saying...we won't win.

Why oh why would you think this Hunt owned team would be winners?

I think his point is Jason is that since they are an abject failure (Royals and Chiefs) the owners need to live here and work here to get the teams turned around. It is about leadership or lack of...

He thinks I am trying to convince them that if they win he should care where they live. He isn't reading my posts.

The damn soccer team has warped his mind about the reality that the NFL is a different beast than MLS. Lower level at Arrowhead is double the size of Livestrong Park, Chiefs have 15 players that make more than the MLS salary cap. Hell the Royals have about 10. Same shit that is pulled at the MLS games wouldn't fly in the NFL or MLB.

Why do we have to talk about winning in the hypothetical?

How is it you can't see this organization is completely toxic.

Talk shit on MLS all you want. That is fine. The Chiefs are an embarrassment to Kansas City and it all starts with an owner that can't run his own organization.

Selling soccer in Kansas City = Selling NFL football in KC to ChiefsCountry as well.

That doesn't make sense to me.

Pioli has lost both games and fans.

If Clark keeps Pioli, it's not because he is happy with the direction of the francise (either games or $$). But because he still believes Pioli can deliver.

I have defended Pioli about as long as anyone else around here. That said, I don't want him hiring a 3rd coach. His first choice might have been Kirk Farentz all along. I don't much care if he can get his 1st choice now. He seems pretty bad at that part of his job, if nothing else.

I'm reading them. They just have nothing to do with what our conversation was about.

You have said I don't know or can't say how I would feel if the team ever was a winner. All I have debated is that statement.

You on the other hand are trying to use my post as a platform to make some statement.

Just make a thread and make your statement
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I once heard with glass's private jet it takes him about as long to get to the stadium as someone from the far side of olathe driving there. Not sure if there is any truth to that, couldn't imagine it would take too long though.

Time to the stadium is immaterial. The reason out-of-town ownership sucks shit is that the one who sucks the penis isn't around doing daily shit having to face normal fans and interact with them.

While I think that most people would be cordial, he'd definitely hear about the shit product on the field.

Hanging out in Dallas or Arkansas means that he's removed from all of this.

More than anything work on the little things about his company. Which is toxic and has a shitty ****ing product.

True. Not around enough to understand completely the tenor of the environment, which applies to the employees, as well as the fan base.

I can see that point about glass. He didn't grow up with the royals.

I think Clark really wants a winner.

We will find out soon
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We are hearing about it, people are writing about it. He knows.

if he's not checking into it he is definitely the problem. He doesn't care.


I think he cares
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The proof is in the pudding.

I don't think is done being mixed yet. We will know soon enough
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My biggest fear is, we find out Pioli signed his extension, and Clark is too cheap to buy it out. That would prove money means more to the Hunt Family than winning. We'll see.

lololololololololololol

Then what about the other businesses the Hunts got, Unity Hunt, Hunt Capital, Eastmon Hunt, Hunt Midwest, Columbus Crew, Chicago Bulls, FC Dallas, that is just off the top of my head.

His direct contact is Pioli, and thus that's how he's going to get information, first and foremost. Unlike us, he's not dependent on the likes of Babb and Mellinger, and thus he could even avoid a large part of this (or even deem it unnecessary).

Like you said, though, we're going to have a clear answer to his level of give-a-**** tomorrow at 2:00 at the latest.

Do you have any idea whether those are great places to work? I don't.

I know that the Chiefs are a ****ing train wreck, though, and Clark has seemed nothing but out of touch about this entire thing to this point.

He has to show his cards tomorrow, though.

Well, right now I'm more excited about following the chiefs than I have been since about week 4 of the season. Clark, please don't shit down my neck again

Wave a white flag to ChiefsCountry.

We get it. The Hunt Family is doing an awesome job with the Chiefs. Go Chiefs.

Yep. Let's look at two of the more successful NFL franchises in the Giants and Steelers. Both of the owners show up almost every day and work. Heck Dan Rooney lives in the same neighborhood as the Stadium and walks to every home game.

But with everything else going on he should be going around Pioli and talking to others to see how his general manager is running hist part of the business, right?

I hope I'm right buddy, and I might be totally ****ing wrong.
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To your first question, absolutely. This assumes that he gives a shit.

Right now, I truly don't know whether he does or not. If he cares about winning, and that's priority 1, I couldn't care less where the sonofabitch lives.

But I think living away from the business itself, one that should be of great pride for him, personally, raises some questions in and of itself.

Tomorrow we know.

I agree with everything you have said here
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But what about the other businesses the Hunts own and run? Chiefs are just the high profile one in the spotlight but they have other ventures as well that are just as demanding. Not to mention Texas is more economically appealing to millionaries because no income taxes. DFW is a major international hub. And not to mention the parts of the real money maker for the Hunt family is still based in Dallas with Hunt Oil. Hell I'm involved with two business now and in the next year or two potenially investing in another one way from my area. I know its tough, but you have to hire the right personal to run them.

I'm not happy with the direction the Chiefs are in because of Pioli. I didn't like the hire in the first place. The situation with the Chiefs is they hired the wrong ****ing guy to run their team. If they made the right hire, its all for naught.

Well yea. If they were winners and not losers we wouldn't have to do any of this.

Hey, Opie Taylor(Clark) had the balls to fire King Carl and I will applaud him for that but Pioli was HIS pick and the best move he could make with the fans is to admit he messed up with the Pioli hiring and fire him. The fanbase comes back in a heartbeat because the fans will forgive and it shows commitment to winning. If Pioli stays Clark will be viewed as a pussy who is not in control and afraid of admitting a mistake and moreso not committed to winning.